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Experts and Complexity

Experts and Complexity

How digging too deep can sink momentum.

There’s an interesting flaw that “experts” in any given field are subject to. They often are brought in to root out the biggest obstacles within a given problem, but sometimes they become the obstacle themselves.

When a person is brought in as a subject matter expert, they often feel pressured to “prove” their knowledge by finding details and opportunities that the rest of the group may not. The problem however is that sometimes the best course of action is nothing at all. In other words, even if it’s unnecessary for an expert to talk in a certain situation, they often will.

Perhaps it’s a subconscious effort to solidify one’s necessity in a job or field, but my two cents is that we (Americans) need to be more cognizant of when and why we’re bringing our expertise to the table.